17 JULY 1964, Page 13

A NO-PARTY SYSTEM?

SIR, --The marked reluctance—to put it less strongly than one might—of all but a dwindling minority of older voters to share in the burden of keeping party- political organisations in being lends point and realism to the letter you print from Mr. Brian Crozier. It is much to be hoped that you will not allow his suggestions to lie neglected. Collapse of the constituency party organisations, as members dying off fail to be replaced, is now imminent and the probability arises of the control of political parties falling entirely into the hands of the two sides of organised industry respectively.

To avoid such a calamitous development it is imperative that an alternative be evolved while there is still time. The discredit into which the party system has fallen, especially amongst the younger half of the electorate, seems irretrievable. Anyone who has recently tried canvassing knows that. In spite, therefore, of all the questions that Mr. Crozier's proposal raises on grounds of practicability it is, I feel, one that offers some prospect of the emergence of the more rational and dignified system that so many are, at heart, seeking.